Amongst Death and Darkness
by Animal Storyteller
Summary: Takes place after The First Battle when the dead discuss how to unite the cats together when they have a surprising visitor to help them unite the cats. One-shot.


A white she-cat walked amongst the trees, silently staring at the huge rock between four oaks. Her green eyes shined with sorrow. The night breeze brushed past her fur. She looked down in sadness as a squirrel zoomed past her, she wouldn't be able to capture it.

She was dead.

"Falling Feather?" another cat meowed, it was Rainswept Flower whom padded over to the white she-cat.

"We're both dead" Falling Feather sobbed.

"That true, but we still need to make things right before we go to the stars for peace" Rainswept Flower meowed.

Falling Feather looked at the dirt pile across the huge rock where the cats buried their dead friends before they left the next sunrise.

"_That_ can't happen again" Falling Feather hissed, flicking her tail towards the dirt pile.

"I know" Rainswept Flower meowed, "I already miss Jagged Peak".

"I'm so sorry" Falling Feather meowed, "I knew you loved him".

"I did" Rainswept Flower croaked.

"Hush, daughter"

Rainswept Flower and Falling Feather both looked to see a sad Shaded Moss approaching his daughter, curling up beside her. Frost and Jackdaw's Cry slowly following him with sad eyes as he flicked his tail over her flattened ears.

"We would've had the best kits on the moor" Rainswept Flower whispered under her father's chest.

"I wish I could still be there for my kits" Jackdaw's Cry muttered, then looked up at his sister with blazing eyes, "But you _killed_ me".

Falling Feather flinched, her eyes full of hurt.

"I thought you've already forgiven her for that already"

Jackdaw's Cry looked behind him to see Turtle Tail, Moon Shadow, and Emberkit padding up to the huge rock. Behind them was Storm leading Hawk Swoop, Fircone, and Bright Stream as well.

"I have not" Jackdaw's Cry snarled, "I just said that because it was a very dramatic scene for the cats alive".

"Get away from me!" Bright Stream hissed at Storm, shoving her out of the way to run to Falling Feather's side.

"Don't shove me!" Storm snarled, unsheathing her ghostly claws.

"STOP THIS!" Rainswept Flower cried, "There's been enough hostility and hate! Have you all learned _nothing?"._

The cats glanced at one another, shuffling their paws.

"She's right" Moon Shadow growled, "The fighting needs to stop".

"What are the alive cats supposed to do?" Fircone brought up the topic.

"Stop fighting, for one" Shaded Moss hissed, "Next, they need to unite".

"Not all of them can live in the forest" Jackdaw's Cry pointed out.

"Who said they have to live on the forest?" Hawk Swoop added to her mate.

"They all can't live on the moor _either"_ Frost meowed, "I may have enjoyed it there, but it wouldn't be fun for the other cats".

"True" Falling Feather meowed, "I loved the forest, the moor was not for me".

"They can unite without moving from their territories"

They looked in shock as a brown kit approached them with wise eyes.

"Pebble Heart?" Turtle Tail meowed in shock, running to her son, "Are you dreaming?".

"I...think so" Pebble Heart stammered, lifting to touch noses with his mother.

"What brings you here, young one?" Bright Stream asked.

"I..have an idea" Pebble Heart mewed, "On how we can unite".

"You know how we're just in groups?" Pebble Heart explained, "I think we can be more tightly-knit".

"How?" Moon Shadow questioned the young kit.

"With a official leader, and a 2nd-in-command, a _deputy"_ Pebble Heart stated.

"To lead _all of them?"_ Storm scoffed. Turtle Tail glared at the gray she-cat.

"No, one for each territory, we can even give the leaders _extra lives!"_ Pebble Heart yowled.

"I think you're insa-"

"Wait" Shaded Moss growled over Storm, "That could actually _work"._

"How many lives though?" Emberkit squeaked, "Are they going to be _immortal?"._

"That wouldn't work, cats would get tired of the same leader, and the leader would probably be tired of living forever!" Fox chuckled, "How 'bout nine?".

"Doesn't sound bad, be enough to live for quite some moons!" Moon Shadow purred.

"Wouldn't they still be groups?" Falling Feather meowed.

"No, there would be borders constantly checked every day and-"

"Are we so desperate that we're taking advice from a _kit?"_ Storm snarled over Pebble Heart. Suddenly, Rainswept Flower rounded on her.

"_Shut up!_ For once, stop being a hypocrite!" Rainswept Flower cried, "You told Clear Sky not to tell cats where they belong, and here _you are doing_ the exact same thing!".

With a yowl, Storm slammed into Rainswept Flower and sank her claws into her hind legs and clawed her ears.

"You'll just be like pretty boy!" Storm snarled, "You'll _both_ have cripple legs!".

Rainswept Flower cried with sorrow and backed away from Storm, whom's eyes were glittering with triumph. Fox ran in between them.

"That was uncalled for" Fox snarled.

"So?" Storm scoffed. "So you need to shut up and listen to my son" Turtle Tail snapped, "Go ahead, Pebble".

"-and we would meet at the huge rock once a moon for a truce" Pebble Heart finished, "For the good of all the cats".

"But what about what I said earlier?" Falling Feather asked.

"About them still being groups" Fircone added.

"Well...I'm not sure how to put this into words" Pebble Heart mewed. All the cats gathered in front of him, hope in their eyes.

The wind blew past their souls, the forest was alive with owl hooting and the snoring of the survivors.

Pebble Heart looked at them and shivered, what was the word that would change these wild, untamed groups into proper...

Clans.

"I...think I know now" the cats looked up at him with shock.

"What is it?" Bright Stream meowed.

This was it, the way to keep his siblings and future children safe, to keep _Gray Wing_ safe, to keep _every_ cat safe.

"Clans"


End file.
